Jan. 6 began with Black joy and ended with white hate — a day like too many in our history. I live blocks away from the U.S. Capitol, and I started my morning on Jan. 6 hopeful that the election of two Democratic senators from Georgia would finally provide a real path for my own congressional representation as a resident of D.C. But, as the day went on, I watched in horror as insurrectionists invaded my neighborhood, and a treasonous mob stormed into the “people’s house,” all initiated by the now-twice-impeached President Trump.
The insurgency propelled D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) to ask for help from the National Guard. But because D.C. is not a state, all requests for National Guard deployment have to be approved by the Defense Department and the president. Defense first denied the mayor’s request, even as rioters smashed the windows of the Capitol and proudly waved Confederate flags inside a building built by enslaved people. The D.C. government was forced to turn to states whose governors have unilateral power to mobilize their National Guards. Maryland and Virginia sent in several thousand troops, but it was too late. The mob was already damaging the halls of Congress, insurrectionists sitting in the chair of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)